Effect of Medication Adherence and Early Follow-Up on Unplanned Readmission Post-Myocardial Infarction: Quality Improvement in a Safety Net Hospital.

Medication nonadherence is a strong predictor of adverse events and unplanned 30-day readmissions in post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients. Nonadherence with dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is of particular concern in post-MI patients, given the high rate of percutaneous coronary intervention in this population. Review of post-MI quality measures revealed that compared to national benchmarks, our safety net hospital had lower DAPT adherence rates and higher unplanned 30-day readmission rates. The aim was to improve these important quality measures by creating a transition of care pathway primarily focused on medication accessibility and affordability of DAPT and early follow-up. A multidisciplinary task force created a transition of care pathway that included bedside medication delivery, patient assistance program enrollment for medications, and follow-up within 10 days of discharge in a dedicated post-MI clinic. Resources for the pathway (personnel and hospital) were already available and repurposed. We compared quality measures of DAPT adherence, proportion of patients evaluated early after hospital discharge, and unplanned 30-day readmissions before and after the initiative. Following initiation of the transition of care pathway, DAPT adherence increased from 56% pre-intervention to 92% post-intervention (P < 0.0001). The proportion of patients scheduled for early clinic follow-up after discharge increased and unplanned 30-day readmissions decreased following initiation of the pathway. A transition of care pathway for post-MI patients using readily available resources was associated with increased DAPT adherence and decreased 30-day unplanned readmissions.

Financial implications of coding inaccuracies in patients undergoing elective endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

OBJECTIVE: Previous cost analyses have found small to negative margins between hospitalization cost and reimbursement for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Hospitals obtain reimbursement on the basis of Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG) coding to distinguish patient encounters with or without major comorbidity or complication (MCC). This study's objective was to evaluate coding accuracy and its effect on hospital cost for patients undergoing EVAR. METHODS: A retrospective, single university hospital review of all elective, infrarenal EVARs performed from 2010 to 2015 was completed. Index procedure hospitalizations were reviewed for MS-DRG classification, comorbidities, complications, length of stay (LOS), and hospitalization cost. Patients' comorbidities and postoperative complications were tabulated to verify accuracy of MS-DRG classification. Misclassified patients were audited and reclassified as "standard" or "complex" on the basis of a corrected MS-DRG: standard for 238 (major cardiovascular procedure without MCC) and complex for 237 (major cardiovascular procedure with MCC). RESULTS: There were 104 EVARs identified, including 91 standard (original MS-DRG 238, n = 85; MS-DRG 254, n = 6) and 13 complex hospitalizations (original MS-DRG 237, n = 9; MS-DRG 238, n = 3; MS-DRG 253, n = 1). On review, 3% (n = 3) of the originally assigned MS-DRG 238 patients were undercoded while actually meeting MCC criteria for a 237 designation. Hospitalizations coded with MS-DRG 253 and 254 were considered billing errors because MS-DRG 237 and 238 are more appropriate and specific classifications as major cardiovascular procedures. Overall, there was a 9.6% miscoding rate (n = 10), representing a total lost billing opportunity of $587,799. Mean LOS for standard and complex hospitalizations was 3.0 ± 1.5 days vs 7.8 ± 6.0 days (P < .001), with respective intensive care unit LOS of 0.4 ± 0.7 day vs 2.6 ± 3.1 days (P < .001). Postoperative complications occurred in 23% of patients; however, not all met the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services criteria as MCC. Miscoded complexity was found to be due to postoperative events in all patients rather than to missed comorbidities. Mean hospitalization cost for standard and complex patients was $28,833 ± $5597 vs $41,543 ± $12,943 (P < .001). Based on institutional reimbursement data, this translates to a mean loss of $5407 per correctly coded patient. Miscoded patients represent an additional overall reimbursement loss of $140,102. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals a large lost billing opportunity with miscoding of elective EVARs from 2010 to 2015, with errors in categorization of the procedure as well as miscoding of complexity. The revenue impact is potentially significant in this population, and additional reviews of coding practices should be considered.

Incorporation of the HEART Score Into a Low-risk Chest Pain Pathway to Safely Decrease Admissions.

Chest pain can be a challenging complaint to manage in the emergency department. A missed diagnosis can result in significant morbidity or mortality, whereas avoidable testing and hospitalizations can lead to increased health care costs, contribute to hospital crowding, and increase risks to patients. The HEART score is a validated decision aid to identify patients at low risk for acute coronary syndrome who can be safely discharged without admission or objective cardiac testing. In the largest and one of the longest studies to date (N = 31,060; 30 months), we included the HEART score into a larger, newly developed low-risk chest pain decision pathway, using a retrospective observational pre/post study design with the objective of safely lowering admissions. The modified HEART score calculation tool was incorporated in our electronic medical record. A significant increase in discharges of low-risk chest pain patients (relative increase of 21%; p < 0.0001) in the postimplementation period was observed with no significant difference in the rates of major adverse cardiac events between the pre and post periods. There was a decrease in the amount of return admissions for 30 days (4.65% fewer; p = 0.009) and 60 days (3.78% fewer; p = 0.020). No significant difference in length of stay was observed for patients who were ultimately discharged. A 64% decrease in monthly coronary computed tomography angiograms was observed in the post period (p < 0.0001). These findings support the growing consensus in the literature that the adoption of the HEART pathway or similar protocols in emergency departments, including at large and high-volume medical institutions, can substantially benefit patient care and reduce associated health care costs.